Moan ranger: Sharapova's big racket is threatened by Lisicki

Sabine Lisicki booked a fourth-round date with Maria Sharapova and has refused to rule out making a complaint if the Russian’s grunting becomes unbearable.

The hard-hitting German claimed a 7-6, 1-6, 6-2 triumph over up-and-coming American Sloane Stephens as she moved to replicate her efforts of 12 months ago when she reached the semi-finals.

Blocking her path is Sharapova, who brushed aside Su-Wei Hsieh 6-1, 6-4 in double-quick time on Centre Court. And Lisicki now faces the issue of whether to complain about the noise coming from the other side of the net, as she did during her victory over Bojana Jovanovski earlier this week.

Plenty to shout about: Maria Sharapova on her way to victory against Su-Wei Hsieh

During their second-round encounter the 15th seed invoked the ‘hindrance rule’, bringing the issue to the attention of umpire Mariana Alves, who failed to take any action.

Lisicki moaned afterwards that it was so loud she ‘couldn’t hear the sound of the ball hitting the racket’, claiming the grunting was handing her opponent an unfair advantage.

The Russian remains one of the worst when it comes to making a noise and it remains to be seen whether Lisicki will take similar action. ‘I’m going to focus on myself in that match,’ said the German. ‘We will see what happens out there. It did bother me in my last match and that’s why I complained. It was better afterwards.’

Going through: Sabine Lisicki beat Sloane Stephens

Sharapova has thrown her weight behind a campaign by the Women’s Tennis Association to stamp out a ploy that many see as gamesmanship, but as it only applies to junior tournaments, that is little surprise.

Top seed Sharapova responded tersely when pressed as to how she would react in such an instance: ‘Well, I haven’t been in that situation and, if I am, I’ll tell you about it afterwards.’

Lisicki had to draw on her experience to beat Stephens, who boasts enough power — even at the age of 19 — to trouble the best. The match was in the balance after Lisicki won just one game in the second set but an early break saw her grab the initiative in the decider.

‘Sloane played great,’ said Lisicki. ‘She’s a good, talented girl. I knew she could serve well, so I had to take my chances.

On course: World No 1 Sharapova is hoping to win another Wimbledon title

‘She plays differently to the Williams sisters and it’s hard to compare players because everyone’s style is different. But it’s good to see someone coming up from the States after the Williamses.’

While the majority of spectators on Court No 1 would have known little about Hsieh, the same did not apply to Sharapova, who was more than happy to play the girl from Chinese Taipei on grass.

‘I faced her many times in juniors,’ said Sharapova. ‘She used to be a nightmare for me because she used to slice and drop-shot on clay.

‘I was like, “Where did they learn how to play tennis like that?” She switched racket hands and we used to have real battles. But I don’t think I gave her the time to do all of that today on grass.’